Wealth Blog

The most generous billionaire

One billionaire far outpaced any others last year in his generosity to charity: Warren Buffett. The 82-year-old chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway gave $3.09 billion, more than half the total amount given by the other 14 on the list of largest charitable donations, published by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Warren Buffett gave more than $3 billion to charity last year.

The top 15 gifts to charity totaled $5.1 billion in 2012, up from $2.6 billion the year before.

Buffett is putting his money where his mouth is. In 2010 he announced that he was giving 90 percent of his fortune to charity and urged other rich Americans to donate at least half of their wealth. Since then, his Giving Pledge, as the campaign is called, has attracted dozens of billionaires, including media tycoon Ted Turner and Oracle Corp. co-founder Larry Ellison.

Buffett's $3.09 billion gift last year was in the form of stock, to be divided equally among foundations run by his children. After Buffett, the largest donations in 2012 came from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, whose $498.8 million gift to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation will support health and education. No. 3 is Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, with a $300 million donation to the Allen Institute for Brain Science.

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149 Comments

Dottie Nance

January 08, 2014 at 8:52 pm

don't know what happened to my comments.

Howard ruoff

January 07, 2014 at 9:41 pm

Mr. Buffett, thank you very much.

Alvin Schaut

January 04, 2014 at 7:02 pm

Dear Warren;
God bless you for what you are doing, it causes a chain reaction and is great, what you do does make a big difference in peoples lives.
I wish sometimes that I could be in your shoes,it is a big responsibility and to just have the special feeling that I have truly done special for people.
That's great!!
I have had some rough times as of late,going through divorce after 32 years of marriage and its been devastating and traumatic.
our 2 children are grown up that's good andthey have "flown the coop", 1 is happily married, the car I drive has lots of miles, have bills medical,etc, household, and may possibly be losing land that is 4th generation and hopefully will be 5th generation.
Iwill possibly lose the house im living in as well?
My mother lived on this farmstead and land until she was 35,withher mother and father and grandparents.
Most everything was done by hand,so she has a good idea of how people really struggled to survive on a early farmstead.
The old farmhouse and all the buildings are not there any more, have long since disappeared,but the memories are there,, she lives alone in a house and she is 94 years old and she has special memories and a special fondness for this land and so do me and our 2 sons,and Mother never had a drivers license
The house mom lives in needs a wash machine and dryer and needs a new tv, the old one is very old, and the house needs some repair work inside.
Dads been gone for sometime and I still miss him.
She raised me and my brother and sister for 18 years,so I guess its time for her to have a comfortable lifestyle.she deserves that much!
I will always donate to red cross, salvation army,united way and will always do so.
I don't like asking!! but don't what else to do.
I have written and edited childrens manuscripts and hope they will be published someday, to help children learn to read'
I will move in with my mother if need be to help her out and so she don't have to go in a nursing home, she knows all too well how that is and I do too.
Its interesting how life can be,but you have to make the most-best=- of it.
keep up the good deeds you are doing!
What really counts is what you are doing!
You are in that very special position to make miracles happen!!
Thanks for what you have started,
look forward to talk with you if need be!,Im sure you are busy!
God bless and God speed
Sincerely, Al

jerry gibson

January 03, 2014 at 6:11 pm

mr. buffet I respect you so much,i think you are one of the smartest men around.a disease struct me out of the blue called guillian barre,most people have never heard of it .I have been in a wheelchair for one and a half years now.iam paralyzed from the waist down and can not walk. I pray every night for jesus to heal me so I can walk so I can get out in the community and tell every one that I can. how much jesus loves them.i pray to jesus to let me win the pch drawing so I can help the needy out.if I was to come in-to some money I would find all the needy people that are dieing of starvation and provide food for them, in the name of jesus so they can live.you see warren I love all the people in the world, they are all my brothers and sisters.i have my own problem with docter and hospital bills.but I would still do this for jesus, praise you lord jesus and thank you jesus for dieing for all of our sins.i love you warren,your my brother in Christ. jesus I love you so much amen.

steve lorenz

January 03, 2014 at 4:43 pm

okay I have vented on one issue,,now its timefor eloquence,,
Iwill do my best,,
MR WARREN BUFFET,THERE ARE MANY NEEDS in this great country of ours,,I know of many,,id like to help make some of them better however it takes a receptive audience of special need folks to continue making the existence of a future work if and when they get a helping hand,,as an example,,this past bail out after the Madoff incident,,,why didn't the folks who had to walk away from what they had paid into and lived in,,why were these folks not given monies to pay off the mortgage LOSS, WHEN THE HOMES WENT INTO FORECLOSURE FOR THOUSANDS LESS THAN WHAT THE HAD BEEN,,,WHY WERE THE FOLKS WHO WALKED,,NOT ALLOWED TO BUY BACK THE HOMES,,,,,,WE ALL HAD SEEN WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BAIL OUT MONEY,,,THE SLOR ENERGY SCANDEL,,ETC ETC,,,,,,WELL AMERIANS ARE HUNGRY,,AND WHY,,ARE OUR JOBS BEING GIVEN TO FOLKS WHO ARE HERE ILLEGALLY,,,AND PREVIOUS TAX PAYING citizens ARE WITH OUT,,,,,YOUR A SMART MAN YOU MAY LOOK AT THE PAINTING IM REVEALING HERE,,,,AND THE COMMERCIALS OF,,( FOR THECOST OF ACUP OF COFFEE YOU CAN SAVE AN ANIMALS LIFE) WE ALL KNOW WHERE THOSE DONATION EQUIVELENTS END UP,,THOSE COMMERCIALS ARE NOT FREE,,,BUT IT KEEPS THE MEDIA IN BUSINESS NOW DOSENT IT

steve lorenz

January 03, 2014 at 4:26 pm

my previous comments about indigenious peoples aht problem was suppose to mean,,,HEAT,,THEY ARE FREEZING TO DEATH ON THE RESERVATIONS

steve lorenz

January 03, 2014 at 4:22 pm

just in case the last one was deleted,,
I AM NOT GONA BOO-HOO OR BEG,,HOWEVER I WILL ASK,,WHY WHEN WEALTHY FOLKS HAVE SO MUCH ,THAT THEY CANT GET TO THE GETTING IT TO THE RIGHT PLACES OF PHILANTROPHY,SPELLED WONG IM SURE,,YA KNOW WHAT I MEAN,,,.
ANYWAY,,IM A DREAMER WITH OUT MONEY,,IM NOT ALONE,,,IM A INVENTER WITHOUT CONNECTIONS TO THE PATENT OFFICE,,IM NOT CONNECTED TO ANYPLACE EXCEPT THE d.m.v. /I.R.S. and a retirement fund of 163.00 dollars a month from general electric,,ha ,ha,ha, on me,,.
I wll get to the point ther are fill in dreams of others that never ge realized,,(ya cant save the world) hover the Hilary Clintons cant even get it right either,,yet thy are connectd to what,,,we all see what is happening to our country,,,/ hunger abroad? are you kidding me,,theres hungry in America,,,because some idiot didn't use a condom,,,well that doesent solve any issues,,,but its the truth,,,,there are many truths,,to this wonderfull country,,,like the no hat issue for theindigenous peoples on reservaations,,,,RESERVATIONS ive a few of my own,,,my dream is to fill the dream gap of these places I see need filling,,without filling a 20 page report for evey donated nickel ,,gottah have tha write off right,..humbug

Sheryl Cordell

January 03, 2014 at 3:16 pm

Dear Mr. Warren Buffett, I have an 89 year old mother I take care of 24/7. She is retired from Lane Community College in Oregon. She is on a fixed income and is struggling just to get by, barely can afford groceries and her medications. Is there a program that can help her?
Sheryl Cordell
916-993-6590

Lisa Harding

January 02, 2014 at 10:03 pm

I truely beleive in miracles although mine hasnt came yet. I have been struggeling with neck and back pain for the past 7 years, I have had all the injections and I had surgery on my back ctober of 2012 and neck surgery in June 2013. I have heard it works for some and not for others, well I was one of the others. I live in pain every day of my life, there are days that I feel like I dont want to live like this anymore, I dont think ayone should have to live like this, its not worth living for trust me!! My Dr bills are overwhelming, and all I do is cry. I do pay my bills though, they may not get it all at once but I take alittle bit each month and give what I can. I havent worked in 6 years because I have a hard time standing and sitting for a certain amount of time and since I got the neck surgery I have limited use of my right arm, shoulder, hand and neck. My husband is a wonderful man whom I have been with for the past 25 years. He has been taking care of me and has been paying my bills. I am not asking for money either but I would like the top medical surgeons to help take my pain away!! I have terrible insurance that will only allow me to go see a Dr once every quarter, so I can only go to the Dr, not just a certain Dr, any Dr once every 3 months.Its hard when you have several Drs that you are supposed to go to but cant afford it. I have something called a leaky valve in my heart and I was supposed to go back to the heart Dr 2 years ago, but I am trying to do something about this pain. I have to go to my Primary Care Dr because I have high blood pressure and high cholesterol along with depression. I dont know if this will every reach you or if someone else reads this for you but if theres anything, anything at all you could do to help me live a pain free live that will be worth living again, I would be so eternally greatful and I do appriciate everything. If not

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